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A New Year and so a New Year’s resolution to try and blog at least once per week.

The first of 2013 is book related. Sanctuary was published in 2012 by Thames and Hudson and runs to an impressive 600 pages. After picking this book up a couple of days back I haven’t been able to put it down. The list of artists is impressive as is the photography and text, one of the best art related books I’ve seen in a long time.

Here are some words from Thames and Hudson

Surveying 120 artists living and working in Britain today, from the most noteworthy to new, upcoming talent, Sanctuary offers a feast of specially commissioned photographs while following each artist through their working routines. Tony Cragg, Antony Gormley, Jenny Saville, Anish Kapoor, Mark Wallinger, Phyllida Barlow, Jane and Louise Wilson, Thomas Houseago, Tracey Emin, the Chapman Brothers, Adam Neate and many others.

In addition to individual interviews with all the artists featured in the book, three essays explore the meanings, configurations and personalities of a huge range of studio settings and environments in contemporary British art.

ISBN 9780500977071

32.00 x 25.00 cm

Hardback

600pp

With over 600 colour illustrations

First published 2012

The published price is a hefty £48.00 but can be found for a bargain price of around £27 delivered from Amazon here. At 600 pages it’s a lot of book for your money.

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Thinking about these new Instagram terms and the storm brewing about photo use.

So Instagram may;-

1. Sell my image for use in advertising and I will not be entitled to a fee.

2. I may not be told my image has been used.

3. Advertising may not be obvious.

Of course the first point concerns me as a photographer but I’ve always used the service with this risk in mind.

The second point baffled me until I got to the third when things begin to make more sense.

‘Advertising may not be obvious’ this is the point that concerns me more than the use of my photo.

Facebook are naturally going to be Instagram’s biggest and probably only client. This move makes way for Instagram to allow Facebook to use your image and more importantly the data that is attached to that image.

The technology in smart phones, unless you’ve disabled it yourself, location data is collected automatically. There is an immense amount of data floating around attached to images. These will be the triggers and your friend network the targets for the advertising as will their friends and so on.

There isn’t room for advertising on Instagram but there sure is on Facebook.

If advertising ‘May Not’ be obvious then will we start seeing a friends image in our feed looking like they were out at #Nando’s (any brand) last night?

This isn’t about the value of an Instagram image but more about how that image links a brand to a person to their whole network. Facebook have this resource and the perfect platform to carry it off.

Tag your photos with #anybrand and now you’re relevant and so is your friend network.

Instagram aren’t going to employ people to choose pictures and Facebook didn’t buy a photo library of gaudy images of drunk people. What they did buy is one almighty database with attached images.

This is potentially taking advertising to a whole next level.

Update:

Instagram have since responded on their blog to the reaction of its users. Terms need to be reworded and give more detail, read more here

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Rant over and I’m now off to make a tin foil hat and tape newspaper over the windows!

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Paul Raftery, architectural photographer, and Dan Lowe, director, have collaborated to create a timelapse film showing the final weeks of construction of The Shard tower in London Bridge, the tallest skyscraper in the United Kingdom.

It was shot over many long days during the early months of 2012, from locations spanning from Greenwich Park to Hampstead Heath.